The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-01-07
The Life OF a Diver.

felt in the operations of o diver. and
while the subioined report OF aconvar
sation ofone ofthese submarine work.
men had with a Boston Traveller "a.
porter does not contain a great deal
that is strikingly new it can hardly
fail to be generally interesting. Hav.
ing described the suit and explained
the system of feeding the diver with
air, he said: "a diver does not care
to go below the surface more than 100
feet on ordinary occasions, although
there are some who can go to a depth
OF $50 feet, but he does not care To
remain at this depth for any length
Of time.
"Of course, there are many dangers
attendant upon a divers life, but he
is apt to become Indifferent to them.
Until within a year or two it was sure
death for q man to have his air pump
give out or q break to occur in his
supply pipe; but recently a valve has
been attached to the pipe, which pre-
vents the air within the dress from es-
Gaping if en- accident occurs to the air
supply. Then again, some people
by fishes when in the water, but this
is not the case. In the waters in this
vicinity we see but very few fish, but
in tropical waters we see plenty. II,
however, you will leave them alone
they will leave you alone. The shark
is a very cowardly fish, and will sell
dom attack q man; but if one becomes
too familiar we let the air escape out
of our sleeves, which have elastic
wristbands, and the kissing sound
which it makes invariably frightens
the fish away.
Many people have the idea that the
bottom Of the ocean is one vast treas
ure bed, and the divers must reap q
rich harvest when they 60 below.
There are undoubtedly many treas
ures in the sea, but no one knows
their location, and, therefore, the di-
vers seldom find anything of any
value.
"Many divers carry on what is
called the 'wrecking' business; that's,
they purchase the hulks of wrecks in
hope of obtaining enough out of them
to make considerable money. But
this is very speculative business, as,
in many instances, the wreck will be
broken to pieces by the sea before
anything can be taken from it. A
wrecker of Boston, a few years ago,
purchased for $40, 600 a large ocean
steamer which had been wrecked, and
in less than q week the vessel went
to peices, and he was $4,000 out OF
pocket.
"Another and most important part
of a divers business is the rescuing OF
bodies.ofthose who have eendrowned.
Until within a few years these bodies
were recovered, if at all, by mea OF
graphing irons, and the bodies were
often thus badly mutilated, but nova
days a diver can go down and rescue
the body with no tr ouble at all The
bodies of the drowned in wrecks are
generally in all OF positions,
and the diver often sees most horrible
things in these places. But it is not
only in the ocean that divers rescue
bodies, but in ponds and rivers, and
sometimes even wells. This branch OF
the divers work is q most humane
one, and his endeavors should be rec
ognized.
"But the greater part of the divers
work at present is what is termed u
scientific branches; that is, the repair
ing Of dams, building of seawalls or
breakwaters, the cleaning OF steam
| ships bottoms, the clearing clogged
propellers. BY improvements in the
armor in recent years, the diver can
now do about all the work under
water that he can do on land. He
carries an electric light attached to
his breast, and by it he is enabled to
see without difficulty in those places
where he would be unable to work
were it not for the light. Divers UNI
doubtly see many things which, lfthey
had a trainingin Silence, would help a
world o~fsiencet to the solution OF many
problems which now vexes it; but the
diver becomes used to the sights, and
therefore sees nothing remarkable In
them. But many stories published IN
the papers of the sights and expert
ences of divers under water are 81 the
widest character, and have IN them
no shadow of truth, and" continued
the diver to whom the Traveller
man was talking, II have been in the
business some thirty-fiye years, and
have been in all kinds Of waters, and 1
never so much as heard OF q fish at
tacking q diver. But il one should
take it into his head to do this, it
would be a sad day for the diver, for q
fish developes surprising strength
when he is seen in his native element,
and could walk all around a man in
no time.
"When an accident happens to o d.